


The Lost Legend

by ScratchConlon



Category: Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001), The Sisters Grimm - Michael Buckley
Genre: Adventure, Atlantis AU, Fluff, Sabrina the bookworm, long fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-29
Updated: 2019-07-28
Packaged: 2020-07-24 22:04:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,013
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20021764
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScratchConlon/pseuds/ScratchConlon
Summary: Sabrina's father has never liked that she was studying folk lore. She never knew why until she learned her grandmother dedicated her life to studying fairy tales- and the place that started it all, Faerie, might just be real. But Sabrina has always prided herself on being level headed, and unlike her starry-eyed sister Daphne, Sabrina knows this can't be true. Until, of course, she realizes it must be true, and goes in search of it herself. But if she makes it to Faerie, will she make it home again?





	The Lost Legend

Sabrina sat in the library, late again, she could never seem to study early. It was only after the sun went down that the night owl in her felt prepared to hit the books. She pulled her long blonde hair into a messy bun, knocking a folder off the table with her elbow as she did.

“Aw man,” she muttered, jumping out of her chair to pick up the fallen papers. They were old, and she wasn’t even supposed to touch them without gloves, let alone dump them on the dirty library carpet. She stood as she placed them back in the stack, looking at the one she set on top. She hadn’t gone through these yet, they were in Irish Gaelic and it gave her a headache to translate for too long. Studying for her degree in literature with an emphasis in folk lore didn’t exactly mean Sabrina took Spanish for her language requirement. Instead she took a combination of Irish Gaelic, German, and even a class or two in various Nordic languages.

Sabrina squinted her eyes at the paper, scanning the lines quickly. She had seen the Gaelic word for Faerie, the supposed homeland of fairies. She was working on her capstone research, origins of Fairy tales. But not literary origins, more like fairytale _locations_. It was a play on words she was pretty proud of. She was looking at how the locations people set fairy tales in effected the story and impact. Sabrina loved how stories impacted people and real-world events. She remembered the day she told her parents what her focus would be.

She hadn’t expected her dad’s outrage.

“You’re studying _what_?” he seethed, his hand gripping the worn armchair in their New York apartment. She blanched, looking at her mother, who also sent Henry a nervous look.

“I think it’s really interesting, I know we didn’t read many fairy tales when we were kids, but they have a pretty cool history,” she explained, wishing her little sister Daphne was here, she would back Sabrina up.

“So, study history, or English, you were always good at that in school,” Her dad pleaded, standing up to pace.

“Well the degree is in Literature, it just has a Folk Lore focus,” she said, trying to keep her voice even.

“Henry, really, it’s not that big of a deal,” her mom cut in. He paused for a moment as he paced, then spun to face her.

“What about jobs? It’ll be harder to find a job with that degree.”

“Dad, I’m getting this degree whether you like it or not, so either get on board or leave it alone,” Sabina said, standing and storming out of the apartment, slamming the door behind her and leaning against it. From the other side she heard her mother sigh.

“I’m sorry V, I just didn’t expect that to happen, we’ve been so careful,”

“You can’t protect her forever,” her mother said. Sabrina wrinkled her eyebrows. She had half a mind to storm back and ask what her parents meant by that, but her phone rang, distracting her, and she scurried down the hall, hoping they wouldn’t realize she had overheard them. \

***

She shook her head as she looked down at the sheet. She pulled out her notebook and scribbled the translation. The author claimed that Faerie was a real place, one you could visit by means of some sort of portal. The writing was messy and frantic. Sabrina wrinkled her brow. She had read plenty of these old sources, Irish fairy tales were some of the wildest, but she never found claim of these places being travelled to, intentionally anyway. There were plenty of stories of people being kidnaped or led astray to the Fairy homeland, but this was new. This actually kind of threw a wrench in her research. Someone intentionally leading an expedition to the Faerie realm? It didn’t fit at all, and by the looks of things, it hadn’t gone to plan. 

She sat back and looked at the clock.

“Shoot,” she muttered. It was already passed two in the morning and she had to get up for class. She wrote down the source of this strange document and put it back, gathering her things and making a quick retreat to her dorm, the weird account already out of her mind.

She didn’t think of it again until a few weeks later. She was in the food hall, shoveling cheap Chinese food in her mouth- the kind that cost five dollars for practically two meals- as she scrolled through new sources she had found on her laptop. A couple were really recent, scholarly papers she hoped to cite as proof her research was solid. She scrolled through a promising one, from the early 2000’s, but balked when she saw the author’s name, a noodle still sticking halfway out of her mouth. The author was a woman named Relda _Grimm_. Sabrina swallowed her noodles quickly and called Daphne.

“What’s up?” Daphne answered, she never said hello, just answered with some phrase now. Sabrina ignored it and hurried on. 

“Did Dad ever talk about anyone in our family named Relda, was that our grandma’s name?” She asked. Her dad was tight lipped about family history.

“Umm, I don’t know, that sounds familiar, why?”

“It’s for school, someone named Relda Grimm wrote one of the papers I found.”

“I bet we’re related; we don’t have a very popular last name. Why don’t you just look it up?” Daphne said in that flippant way of hers.

“Sorry for wanting to include you,” Sabrina said, rolling her eyes, even though her sister couldn’t see it.

“Include me in something more interesting next time please!” She said, drawing out the word please.

“Oh whatever. You’re lucky I ask you anything at all. Will you be at dinner on Friday?” Daphne was hardly at home when Sabrina came home anymore, she always had theatre, or soccer, or music, or whatever her current interest was.

“Yeah, I should be, see you then!” She said and hung up before Sabrina could say goodbye. She sighed but followed her younger sister’s advice and looked up Relda Grimm on the internet.

First, she found the paper she had been reading, the university the woman had attended. Then she found a few articles in a small-town newspaper. First was the woman’s wedding announcement from the 1960’s. She had married a German man named Basil Grimm. Sabrina’s breath came short, her little brother was named Basil and her Dad said he wanted to name him after his dead father. She shook her head; it could still be a coincidence. After that was another announcement, this time for the birth of Relda and Basil’s son. Sabrina choked when she read the name Henry, printed next to her father’s birthday.

She was halfway out of her seat, her subway card already in her hand when she thought better of rushing home. Her father hadn’t answered any questions this far, what would make him start now? She sat back down slowly, her mind reeling. Should she talk to her mother? She might know, but she wasn’t sure she would admit it to her if her dad didn’t want to talk about it. Her mother had a way of avoiding questions about her husband’s family. Even if she could tell her mother knew something, she could never get it out of her. There was a reason Sabrina hadn’t become a reporter.

She shook her head. She looked up the newspaper that had published those announcements. Both were from the _Ferryport Landing Daily_. She did a quick search; the town was only two hours away by train. Before she could help herself, she had dialed the number for the newspaper.

“Hello, this is the _Ferryport Landing Daily_ , how can I help you?” A chipper voice said on the other end. Sabrina froze for a second but snapped out of it.

“Hi, I’m looking for a woman named Relda Grimm, do you know if she still lives in your town?” A huff sounded from the other end.

“Yes, she _still_ lives here,” the woman said with malice.

“Uh, okay, do you have her number or address?” Sabrina asked, knowing it was probably out of the question to give it to her.

"Sure, but good luck doing anything to _that_ house,” She said before giving Sabrina the woman’s phone number and address.

"Uh, thanks?” Sabrina said before hanging up. She didn’t know what to make of that, but she dialed the phone number before losing her nerve.

To Sabrina’s surprise a man answered.

“Yello!” He said in a jovial way. Her voice stuck in her throat. She didn’t think she’d get this far, and she certainly hadn’t expected a man, especially since she knew her grandfather was dead.

“H-Hi,” She choked out. “I’m looking for Relda Grimm, is this the right number?”

“Sure is. Hold on a second. Mom! Someone is on the phone for you!” He called and Sabrina slammed the phone down, repeatedly slamming the end call button. She stared at the phone a minute. If that man was Relda Grimm’s son, that means she had just spoken to her _uncle_ for the first time. She had to think. A simple project had gotten way out of hand.

***

And it seemed like it was getting more out of hand when Sabrina sat down on the train North an hour later. She tapped her foot impatiently as the rolling hills outside New York started to pass by her window. She had her backpack clutched tightly in her arms. Her laptop and a change of clothes inside, just in case she didn’t make it back by the last train tonight. She did the numbers in her head. She would get to Ferryport Landing, a small farming town off the Hudson River, she had learned, by 5 PM. The last train leaves back to the city at 9:25, if she was on it, she would be just fine. Her first class started at nine tomorrow so even if she didn’t, she could grab the first train back in the morning.

When she stood in front of the two-story house hours later, she was shaking a little, and it wasn’t just from surviving the worst taxicab ride of her life from the station to here. Sabrina swung her backpack on her shoulder and stilled her shaking hands as she walked up the sidewalk and knocked on the door. She was too in her own head to notice all locks on the door.

An older woman answered the door, her hair pulled into a low bun, her eyes smiling before she even laid them on Sabrina. But when she did, tears clouded her vision instantly.

“Oh, oh _my_ , Sabrina, I never thought this day would come,” she said, her words coming through a German accent Sabrina had, for some reason, not expected. She blushed; she didn’t even consider the old woman would know her.

“Um, I-“ she started, not knowing how to explain herself.

“Come in liebling, come in, let me get a look at you,” the woman who must be her grandmother said, pulling her by the elbow into a cozy little book-lined living room. Through an arch way Sabrina could see a dining room, filled with just as many books, and a man seated at the table. He stood when he heard the commotion and locked eyes with her. He was younger than the woman, looked younger than her dad and she realized with a start this was her uncle who she had spoken to on the phone. She hadn’t even thought to find out his name.

“Um, I’m sorry to show up unexpected, I read one of your papers,” Sabrina tried to explain while her grandmother pulled her to a well-worn couch and sat her down heavily.

“One of my letters to your father?” The old woman clarified, and Sabrina shook her head.

“No, I never knew you wrote to him,” she said with a pause. “I meant the paper you wrote on fairytale locations.”

The woman shot a look to her uncle.

“Oh, I had no idea you were interested in that.”

“Well, it’s my focus for my degree. Well, folk lore in general, but that’s my capstone work, I just stumbled upon it, and saw your name, and well, here I am,” Sabrina explained.

“Listen, Sabrina, does Hank know you’re here?” her uncle asked.

“Um, I don’t know who that is”

“Your father, does he know you’re here?” Sabrina raised an eyebrow at him, she had never heard anyone call her dad ‘Hank’, but she let it slide.

“No, no one does,” she realized how dumb that was the second the words left her mouth. There was a reason her dad never told her about these people, and here she was, a sitting duck.

“Oh, he’s gonna love this,” he said rolling his eyes to the ceiling.

“Are- are you, his brother?” She asked, implying of course, that this man was her uncle. He stilled and looked between her and the old woman, who was now seated next to Sabrina on the couch.

“Mom, she doesn’t even know me. I thought he-“

“Yes liebling,” Relda interrupted him, “This is your uncle Jacob,”

“Jake.” He cut in, pulling Sabrina up and into a tight, albeit unwanted hug, which she returned half-heartedly.

“And I am, of course, your Oma, your grandmother.” She continued, wrapping Sabrina in another bear hug once Jake had released her.

“Is Daphne not with you?” she asked suddenly. Sabrina shook her head.

“No, she has school, I couldn’t bring her,” she fibbed, in fact she hadn’t asked Daphne at all.

“That’s alright, there’s always another time now. Now that we’re together again.”

Sabrina nodded. Right. What had she gotten herself into?

“Listen, I have about a million questions. Only about half have to do with your paper. What happened between you and my dad?” She asked, her curiosity getting the better of her.

“He didn’t tell you anything, huh?” Jake asked, his arms crossed, but his eyes were sad.

“No, I didn’t know you existed, obviously. And I thought _you_ were dead, you and Basil, that’s what he told us,” she said, looking towards Relda. The old woman sighed.

“Well Basil _is_ dead, he died before you were born. But I must admit, part of what drove your father away was my work, the things you read in that paper.”

“Well that explains why he was so upset about me studying it. But what happened? Why would he care so much about _fairytales_?”

Her grandmother looked over to a large desk that stood in the corner. Sabrina hadn’t noticed it at first because it was so covered in books and papers. The old woman stood and shuffled through the things on the desk. When she returned, she handed Sabrina some worn documents. They were like the ones Sabrina had found in the library. She flipped through them as Relda began to talk.

“It’s a long story, liebling, one that started long ago,” she suddenly sounded like a much older woman when she said that. Sabrina stilled when she saw one reporting on the location of Faerie, just like the one she had found in the library. Relda continued.

“My research, the published part, is just the tip of the iceberg that has been my life’s work, that was my husband’s life’s work. There are many things in this world that aren’t exactly what they seem, but then, there are some that are so clear, people overlook them. Our last name is Grimm, and that goes straight back to the Brother’s Grimm, who, as you know, recorded fairytales. They wrote down the things they saw for future generations because times were changing and people- _places_ \- were disappearing.”

Sabrina narrowed her eyes and shot a look at her uncle, who flicked his gaze away from hers. Her grandmother couldn’t be implying what Sabrina thought she was.

“Ever since then our jobs as Grimms has been finding and recording these people and specifically, the places they came from. Both Basil and I have dedicated our lives to finding Faerie, if it still exists in this world. Jacob has worked to find the items people use to travel back and forth to these places. But your father-“

“Stop right there,” Sabrina interrupted her, standing up. Jake stood up with her, his hands out, as if he had expected her to protest.

“Are you trying to tell me you think Faerie is a _real place_? Cause I’m not a kid, I know the difference between fact and fiction”

“Please, Sabrina, sit down, let’s talk about this, you study fairytale locations-“

“Yeah, in my literature degree. It’s fiction, it’s made up, it’s literally fairytale. These places I study don’t exist in real life.”

“It’s our family history Sabrina, we know these places are real, I’ve been to a few of them,” Jake says, his hands still out like Sabrina is a startled animal in need of calming.

“Fine, if Faerie exists, where is it?” She gestured around the room; the papers still clutched tight in her hand. “It’s not here and if you’ve been to so many, show me. Where is Faerie?” She shouted, her blood pumping in her ears. Her grandmother stood then too.

“Sabrina, I’ve tried for years to find Faerie, many think it’s in Ireland, maybe even Scotland or Iceland. But it exists, just like most of those stories were set in German forests, Faerie exists just like those do.”

Sabrina shook her head, the wisps of her hair flying in her face.

“I won’t stand here and listen to this; my dad was right. This was a mistake, I shouldn’t have come,” she said pulling her backpack off the couch and making for the door.

“Sabrina please, I thought you would want to know,” the old woman says, and Sabrina doesn’t break her stride to the door as she replies.

“I thought I wanted to know about my family, but this was too much.”

Relda and Jake chased after her, standing in the doorway as Sabrina marched down the long driveway. She could feel their eyes on her. She got all the way down the hill and out of sight before she realized she still had the papers Relda had given her in her hand. Whatever, she didn’t want to face them again, she would mail the papers back if she had to.

Sitting on the train back to school, Sabrina was fuming. No wonder her dad had kept them from their grandma and uncle, they were crazy, certifiable lunatics to think any of this was true. She shook her head, what had she been thinking? She didn’t know how to face her family tomorrow night at dinner. If she brought up what she had learned her dad would be furious, but she needed someone to talk to.

Sabrina got off a few stops early and walked the few blocks to the apartment she had grown up in. She sat on the steps of the building and called her sister. It was late, she had spent longer than she wanted walking back from her grandmother’s house to the station, unwilling to call the one cab in town again. She looked up and saw the lights in her apartment were off, and Daphne’s groggy hello when she answered confirmed everyone was asleep.

“Daphne, wake up and come downstairs I need to talk to you,” Sabrina said in a whisper, even though no one else would hear her.

“Wha? Where are you? Aren’t you at school?”

“No, I’m downstairs on the steps, now hurry up! It’s important,” Sabrina hissed.

“What could be so important at like 3 AM?” Daphne asked and Sabrina could hear her sister falling back asleep.

“No! Daphne it’s like 11, you’re just tired, now come on, it’s about Dad’s family, our grandmother isn’t dead.”

“WHAT?” Daphne practically yelled and Sabrina flinched, hopefully her parents hadn’t woken up at that, but on the other end she could hear her sister getting out of bed. She hung up and a few minutes later Daphne pushed open the front door, her black hair slung up into a messy topknot and drool stuck to the side of her face. Sabrina could tell the 16-year-old hadn’t washed off her eyeliner before crawling into bed and she suppressed the urge to roll her eyes and reprimand her for it.

“Tell. Me. Everything.” Daphne said, sitting cross-legged on the stairs, her eyes wide. Sabrina took a deep breath.

“That woman I found today while reading papers is our grandmother. I looked up some old records and found a birth announcement for dad. When I called the paper that printed it to ask if Relda Grimm still lived in town they gave me her number. I called and, well, I talked to our uncle,” Sabrina started, gauging Daphne’s reaction. There was a good chance she would be mad Sabrina hadn’t included her in all of this.

“I went up there today, I don’t know what I was thinking, I just wanted to know why dad had kept them from us, but Daphne, now I know why. We were talking about the research she did, and I guess, the research I’m doing. Anyway, she thinks fairytales are real,” She explained, pulling the documents her grandmother had given her out of her backpack. Daphne didn’t say anything which made Sabrina nervous.

“She says her life’s work has been to find where these fairytale locations are in real life. Specifically, Faerie, where fairies live. Our uncle believes it too, he says he’s been to these places. His name is Jake.” She added, and Daphne looked up at her.

“Maybe they’re telling the truth Sabrina,” she said, flipping through the papers. Sabrina’s heart sank, she never should have told Daphne.

“Daphne, how could they be telling the truth, they’re saying we’re related to the Brothers Grimm, that fairytales are real, not just bedtime stories,-“ Daphne cut her off.

“Maybe there’s a reason you wanted to study folk lore. Maybe it’s like, I don’t know, in your blood or something.” Sabrina stared at her incredulously.

“Are you saying you believe that Faerie is a real place? That fairytales are real?” She asked, exasperated. Daphne shrugged and motioned at the papers.

“I don’t know, it’s your degree. All I’m saying is it’s one heck of a coincidence that our long-lost relatives dedicated their lives to this thing you randomly decided to get obsessed with too.”

“I’m not obsessed,” Sabrina defended herself. Daphne rolled her eyes.

“It’s literally all you ever talk about. I’m just saying, stranger things _have_ happened.” Now it was Sabrina’s turn to roll her eyes, that was one of Daphne’s favorite sayings.

***

Later that night Sabrina turned over in her bed, checking the clock for the fourth time in the last hour. As the minutes ticked by like maple syrup, Sabrina’s mind raced. She had told Daphne that she’d think about it, just to humor her. Even though Daphne had pointed out that tomorrow was Friday and she could just stay at the apartment, Sabrina turned her down, saying she needed time to think. What she really wanted to do was sleep off this weird day, but sleep eluded her. She could feel those documents her grandmother had given her sitting on her desk across the room. It was like they were staring at her. She twisted and turned in the sheets, unable to lie still.

She hated to admit it, she prided herself on being level-headed and rational, unlike her starry-eyed little sister, but there was a part of her that really wanted Faerie to be real. That wanted her grandma and uncle to not be crazy, that wanted her father’s estrangement to be of some other cause, a part of her that wanted to be a part of something bigger than herself.

A part of her, more than anything, that wanted to believe it was possible.


End file.
